Video: NYT: US  planning troop buildup in Persian Gulf

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   >>> york times" is reporting that the obama administration plans to send more troops to the persian gulf to maintain a presence in that region after the united states withdraws from iraq . nbc's mike viqueira live at the white house on this sunday morning. mike, what's the word on this report?

   >> reporter: well, you know, it's a fascinating report. you remember last week, craig, when the president suddenly appeared in the briefing room one afternoon and he said, we're going to be withdrawing all of our troops from iraq by the end of this year. in some sense, that wasn't a surprise. the president had been mentioning that time and time was an applause line. he says, we're moving all of our troops out of iraq . i pledge to do that by the end of 2011 ,time going to accomplish that. what was new was there were negotiations with the iraqi government to leave sort of a residual force, some 5,000 was one number mentioned. other people mentioned 10,000, to try to hold iraqi society together while the army there and defense forces within iraq are able to stand up on its feet, and reason iraqi generals are quoted this morning as saying, that could be years away. and also, to keep the influence of iran at bay, the huge country next to iraq , iraq is already, of course, fought a war with that country within the last 20 years or so. now we're talking about an over the horizon force, as reported in "the new york times." more troops in neighboring kuwait, of course, just to the south of iraq , and working with the gulf cooperation counsel, this is a consortium, sort of a group within the persian gulf , it includes saudi arabia , bahrain, qatar, the united arab emirates , to try to come together to position forces around iraq , while not in iraq , to try to keep that country together, try to hold off the influence of iran within iraq , once american troops leave, craig.

   >> it is a fascinating report. mike viqueira from the white house on this sunday morning. mike, thank you.

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